Pawnee Fire burns 2.6 acres near Fort Carson

Fort Carson firefighters along with Colorado Springs Fire Department, El Paso County Wildland firefighters and other agencies responded to a wildfire burning south of Colorado Springs Sunday afternoon. Fire officials are calling it the Pawnee Fire.

The Associated Press reports that residents of about 20 homes were evacuated.

The final total acreage burned came to 2.6. At this time the cause of the fire is unknown.

The fire burned the west side of Highway 115 and west of Rock Creek Mesa Road.

All evacuations have been lifted according to an El Paso County public information officer. Earlier, parts of Pine Oaks Road and Rock Creek Mesa road were under mandatory evacuation. Pre-evacuation was in place for the mobile home park Cheyenne Mountain Estates at 8160 Piute Road.

Below is a map of the area that was evacuated.

Crews battled tough terrain in the heavily wooded area to get the Pawnee Fire out.

El Paso County Public Information Officer Ryan Parsell said this is an area crews have been watching because of how densely wooded the area is as well as other fuels that have built up.

Parsell said with the fire in mop-up stages, it’s a good reminder to perform fire mitigation on homes to be prepared for wildfire season.